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The Id and The Odyssey; Episode 86

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Rich climbed in
the Jeep and drove back to Rockland. He was never so sure of asking
someone out and not being turned down. “I’m devastated, she saw
right through me,” Rich thought. “If I ask somebody out my own
age, people will think there’s something wrong with me. I can’t
bring a teenage girl around my friends. That would be so awkward for
the girl.”

His thoughts
turned to the last girl he really cared about, Jenny Chandler.
“She has had the child by now and married.” He thought of her
smile. “It was not quite a smile; so unobtrusive, kind, and
comforting.” It was as if he could see Jenny Chandler’s smile
through the glare of oncoming headlights on his windshield. “I hope
she and the child are well. I wish I could tell her that and tell her
I think of her in the most pleasant way.”

Rich pulled up in
the driveway of the apartment. He entered the apartment again and
hung his coat on the peg behind the door. He put on an Errol Garner
album. He looked over the books on his shelf and picked out The Third
Man.

There was a knock
at the door. Rich smiled. “Al and Alice want company,” he
mumbled.

Rich opened the
door. It was Edna. She held up the white sack with the pie and
potato. “You forgot something.”

Rich smiled.
“Thanks, Edna. Would you like to step in.”

“Sure,” she
said.

“It’s not
much, but it’s home,” Rich said.

“It’s
perfect,” Edna said.

“How did you
find me?” Rich said.

“I left early
and followed you,” Edna said. “You drive slow.”

“Let me take
your jacket,” Rich said and helped her off with it. “Have a seat
at the table.”

Rich filled the
tea kettle and set it over the burner on the stove. He lit the burner
with a match.

“Don’t say a
word,” Rich said. “I don’t get guest and I want to make you
feel welcome. I know you drink tea; everybody drinks tea and I just
happen to have a piece of banana cream pie.”

“Yeah,” Rich
said. “I’ve listened to it sense I was a teenager.” He smiled
and Edna smiled.

“Well, someday
you can say that,” Edna said.

“Yeah,” Rich
said, “I feel foolish.”

“There is no
need to,” Edna said. “I think I understand.”

“I’m not in
need of pity,” Rich said.

“This is just a
friend bringing something you forgot,” Edna said. “I’d do the
same for any customer.”

“I was hoping
to be a little more special,” Rich said.

“Well,” Edna
said, “you are.”

“I knew it all
along,” Rich joked.

They chatted for
a couple more minutes, the tea pot began to whistle.

He poured the
water for the tea, retrieved milk from the refrigerator, pulled a
spoon from a cabinet drawer, and slid the sugar bowl in front of
Edna.

They sipped tea,
ate the pie, and talked. Edna was from Lubec and graduated from Colby
College. She traveled to Europe twice. She had a small home near
Camden. Romance was not a priority in her life, although she had a
boy friend in high school, a couple in college and a Swedish dairy
farmer named Sven.

“What about
you, Rich,” Edna said. “Who is it that I remind you of? And it
better not be your sophomore English teacher, Ole lady Crabtree.”

“It’s a sad
story,” Rich said. “Some stories are best left in the mind.”

“Is that why
you left?” Edna said.

“Oh, no,”
Rich said, “she would have been worth staying for. I left because
of my home life. Jenny left because she had to.”

“Jenny,” Edna
said. “what was she like?”

“She was like
fourteen and pregnant,” Rich said. “Not mine, but someone older
that should have known better and I suppose for that face she should
have to, but things happen.”

“Break your
heart?” Edna said

“Young hearts
don’t break,” Rich said, “they sort of bend and flop back in
place, but there’s always a crease.”

“Rich,” Edna
said, “someday someone will come along and fill your heart and take
the crease out.”

“I know that,”
Rich said.

“And it won’t
be me,” Edna said.

“I know that,”
Rich said. “I’m only looking for someone…”

“To fill an
emotional gap: take out the crease for awhile.”

“It’s not
even that,” Rich said. “It’s a smile, that’s all. Have you
ever thought about the impact of a smile. A smile is the best gift
you can give a person. It means approval. It means you like something
or someone. And it is done with no strings attached.”

From Kenton Lewis: You Must Read This First To Know What The Heck Goes On Here

This site contains mostly fiction. Currently a novel is posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday entitled Beyond Beyond. It is broken down into short episodes between two and four pages each. Thus, if you enter on anything other than episode 1, it would be good the scroll down to find previous episodes.

The archives are full of short stories. Some short stories are very short, just one posting. Others are broken down into episodes also.

Every post contains 350 to 1,500 words.

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This Is He

Taken shortly after my beheading. I refused to give up coffee. "Not from my cold dead hands!"